


Traffic Jamz

by andimeantittosting (Saylee)



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Cas is back and everything is okay, Dean's Top 13 Zepp Traxx Mixtape, Fluff, M/M, Mixtape, POV Sam Winchester, Post-Episode: s13e03 Patience
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-30
Updated: 2017-10-30
Packaged: 2019-01-26 12:18:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 885
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12557220
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Saylee/pseuds/andimeantittosting
Summary: Getting Cas back goes a long way in warming Dean up to Jack.





	Traffic Jamz

Getting Cas back goes a long way in warming Dean up to Jack. Really, it works miracles for his demeanor in general. He’s been all sunny smiles and pumped-up optimism as they make the trek from Lebanon back to North Cove, to see if Jack can reopen the rift to retrieve Mary.

“She’s strong and smart,” he insists. “No way we won’t get her back in one piece.”

Sam, who is crammed into the backseat with Jack so that Cas can sit up front with Dean – a good thing since it means that Dean can mostly keep his eyes on the road, rather than on Cas – does not point out that this is the exact opposite of what Dean had said not two days ago. He is, after all, hopeful too. 

That doesn’t stop him from raising his eyebrows when Dean asks, “Hey, kid, you want to pick out some music?” He nudges Cas. “Go ahead, pass him that shoebox by your feet.”

“Really Dean?” Sam asks, not a little offended. Dean’s never offered this treatment to him. “What happened to driver picks the music, shotgun shuts his cakehole?”

Dean shrugs, loose and relaxed. “Kid’s done good.” There’s no indication that not even a week ago he was looking for ways to kill him, but Jack doesn’t seem bothered by the abrupt about-face. Dean turns his head to beam at Cas, and Sam really can’t bring himself to complain. Except –

“Dean! Eyes on the road,” he chides when the car swerves towards the yellow line.

“Sorry.” Dean corrects himself, risking one more glance at Cas before focusing on driving again.

Jack has been picking through the box of cassettes with a furrow between his eyes. “I don’t know which one to pick,” he admits at length. 

“You can pick anything you want,” Sam hastens to assure him. “This is about figuring out what you like.”

“Besides, he’ll make you listen to them all eventually,” Cas adds. Dean looks equal parts wounded at the quip, and thrilled that Cas made it in the first place, and Cas softens the whole thing with a fond little smile in Dean’s direction.

Dean clears his throat. “Yeah, just pick anything you want.”

“This one,” Jack decides, passing a tape forward. Dean accepts it with two fingers, and pushes it into the tape deck and hits play without looking. The strains of Highway to Hell fill the vehicle. He drums along on the steering wheel, encouraging Cas to sing along, while Jack listens with a bemused smile. Even Sam gets into it. Overall, the atmosphere in the car is upbeat. 

That is, until the song ends, and Highway to Hell starts up again.

Sam groans. “Don’t tell me this is –”

Cas hits eject, abruptly ending the music, and picks up the cassette. “It’s labelled ‘Traffic Jamz,’” he reads. “With a ‘Z’.”

Dean goes off into hoots of laughter, while Sam groans again and buries his head in his hands. “Why do you even still have that tape?” he demands of his brother. Jack and Cas are turning twin expressions of confusion in his direction, so he explains. “It’s just Highway to Hell seven times in a row.”

“Yeah, and the other side’s got Radar Love four times, and Life is a Highway three.” Dean is still snickering at his own joke, and Sam sees Cas shoot him a look that says, ‘this human is ridiculous, but I love him anyway.’

He shakes his head.

“And this is funny?” Jack asks, haltingly.

“Hell yes it is,” Dean says, at the same time Sam answers,

“No.”

Jack’s shoulders slump. “I picked badly.”

“Don’t listen to him,” Dean chides. “Sam’s just being a stick in the mud.” 

Sam rolls his eyes again.

“You didn’t pick badly,” Cas comforts Jack. “There are no moral consequences to musical taste, and you could not have accounted for Dean’s sense of humour, such as it is.”

“Hey!”

Sam snickers at his brother, and taps the shoebox Jack is still holding. “Why don’t you pick another one, and I’ll tell you what it is before we listen to it?”

“It’s good for when you’re stuck in traffic,” Dean grumbles. “Doesn’t feel like you’ve been sitting as long if you’re still listening to the same song.”

Cas pats his hand, and Sam pretends not to notice the way their pinky fingers linger against each other when Cas pulls his hand away.

\---

Later they stop at a gas station to refuel, and Sam escorts Jack inside for road snacks. He emerges several minutes later with a bag stuffed full of licorice, pork rinds and a frankly obscene number of candy bars, for Dean, Cas and Jack respectively. For himself, he has a rather sad looking apple, but he thinks he might be able to talk Dean into stopping somewhere for better fruit, so he’s not too bothered.

He pulls to a sudden stop underneath the overhang, and Jack collides with his shoulder. Dean and Cas are standing near the Impala, leaning together in a way that can only be read as intimate. As he watches, Dean licks his lips, and pulls a small rectangular object - another cassette - from the inside pocket of his jacket, and hands it to Cas, who tucks it into his own inner pocket. Their hands linger.

**Author's Note:**

> 'Traffic Jamz' is a real mixtape, as made by my father-in-law for traffic jams. Yes, that is the title and track listing.
> 
> 2019-01-10: My hilarious husband, [fictoryismine](https://archiveofourown.org/users/fictoryismine/pseuds/fictoryismine), has recreated this mixtape [here](http://suan.fm/mix/BkHWhxHzE).


End file.
